Kinsale the most expensive place to buy a home in all of Munster

In Cork County, the median price of a home was in line with the national figure at €286,950. Prices were slightly cheaper in Cork city, with a median price of €275,000. Picture: Denis Minihane.

House prices are still experiencing double-digit growth but inflation in the property market has slowed for the first time in nearly two years, the CSO has said.

Meanwhile, non-household entities based outside the State spent over €500m on homes in Ireland last year, with that sector having a net monetary flow of €2.2bn from home sales over the course of 2021, new figures show.

The CSO’s latest Property Price Index shows that the property prices rose by 14.2% in the year to April 2022, with inflation outside of Dublin remaining high at 16.4%.

Since property prices rose by 0.4% in the year to November 2020, property price inflation has risen markedly, peaking at 15.1% in February and March of this year.

Higher house prices anticipated

While the expected interest rate hike by the ECB and the Government’s hopes to increase supply may temper property price inflation, the Association of Mortgage Advisors said that the increased cost of raw materials and growing labour costs may feed into even higher prices in the future.

Its chairperson Trevor Grant said: “Prospective homebuyers are looking to know whether they should move now or wait it out, in the hope that prices might soften. No one can say with any degree of certainty what’s going to happen to prices, but there definitely appears to be scope for further increases.” 

Mr Grant added that finding a suitable property is often the more challenging part of the process for prospective homeowners.

According to the CSO’s latest figures, the median price of a home purchased in Ireland — the midpoint between the cheapest and the most expensive — in the 12 months to April 2022 was €286,000.

Prices up 118% since 2013

While house prices are still 2.1% lower than the Celtic Tiger peak, prices nationally have risen by 118.3% since the low point of the market in early 2013.

In Cork County, the median price of a home was in line with the national figure at €286,950. Prices were slightly cheaper in Cork city, with a median price of €275,000.

By Eircode, Kinsale is the most expensive place to buy a home in all of Munster, with a median price of €380,000.

Meanwhile, in 2021, one-fifth of all homes purchased in the State were bought by the non-household sector, covering private companies, charities, and State institutions, the CSO said.

Non-household entities bought up 11,733 homes at a cost of €3.5bn. Companies and institutions with a registered address outside of Ireland spent €564.6m on residential home purchases in 2021, an increase of 24.6% on the amount spent in 2020.

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Such entities sold €5.75bn worth of homes in 2021, with €3.5bn of these sales to households.

The CSO said that in each year it has compiled such stats since 2015, there has been a net flow of money directed to the non-household sector.

In 2021, there was a net monetary flow of €2.2bn to the non-household sector through home sales, the CSO said.